Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 594
Only Krnovel
EP.594 Episode 594 – The Stolen World (9)
Episode 594 – The Stolen World (9)
“User: Han Ga-in (Jihye)
Date: 225th day
Current location: Northern Territory, Australia
Wise Man’s Advice: 0”
– Han Ga-in
The Administration is a group that watches over all of humanity, punishes corruption, and destroys demons.
Those who are silent are the leaders who control the bureau from within.
Therefore, it would be fair to say that those who remain silent are the watchdogs of all mankind.
At this very point, a wise person cannot help but ask one question:
Because there is a saying that has been passed down since ancient Rome.
Who watches the watchers?
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Let’s say that humanity is watched by the Administration, and the Administration is watched by the Silent One.
Then who will watch over those who remain silent?
The answer to this problem is the ‘stone slab’.
The act of revealing the secrets of the world obtained from one’s position as a silent one.
An act of denying matters decided in a majority meeting and acting wildly.
The reason for the existence of the stone tablet is to thoroughly monitor the deviant behavior of the silent ones like the above and maintain order by crushing the soul of those who violate it.
Because he understood this, Grandfather Mukseong strongly opposed the destruction of the stone tablet.
…
In order to save Ari, the stone slab must be neutralized, but it would be difficult if it were actually destroyed.
What should I do?
Fortunately or unfortunately, there was a plausible answer ready for this.
As we experienced once before, ‘the wisdom of the past’ had an unidentified power that suppressed all supernatural forces.
*
“teacher”
“wizard”
“researcher”
“betrayer”
“a self-righteous person”
“The incomprehensible person”
As I walked towards the stone slab, feeling the constant dissonance, I heard Ryan’s voice behind me.
“Ah! Ah! Now, now.”
Sang-Hyeon nodded his head and answered.
“Will your boss use force?”
“Yes. And I told you that the old man and I are not in a superior-subordinate relationship?”
“Okay, let’s call him a colleague.”
Ryan seems to believe he is on par with the wisdom of his predecessors, but honestly, none of us think so.
A relationship where you don’t know the name of the wisdom of your ancestors, don’t know their face, and have never actually seen them, but you obey and follow the voice and power heard from somewhere.
What kind of colleague is this?
In the first place, where is this human being, the wisdom of the past? Does he exist in reality?
The more I think about it, the more suspicious I become.
Anyway, I heard that ‘voice’ too.
‘It’s been a while.’
“It’s been a while. Please suppress the stone tablet as promised.”
‘Don’t rush.’
“…”
‘As you may have heard from Ryan, the time it takes to suppress the slab is limited. So it’s not certain whether you can save your comrades.’
“I know.”
The time that the wisdom of the past can restrain the stone tablets is not long.
After that time passes, the stone tablet will chase Ari again.
So we need to make contact with Ari for a short period of time and move her to a separate ‘safe place’.
“start -”
‘I have something to say.’
“Why at this particular time?”
‘If I tell you now, won’t you listen to me obediently?’
That was so true that I was speechless for a moment.
‘First, do not listen to the voice of the moon. Those who come into contact with great wisdom, like you and I, must keep away from unreliable whispers.’
“…”
‘Second, now is the time for us to have a frank talk.’
“That’s a true story….”
‘It’s a story about our purpose.’
When we reunited with Ryan, he tried to tempt us to take his place on the ark, mentioning his family.
From the moment I first heard that until now, I have never once believed it.
Even if it’s just Songi among us, I don’t think a family made of dreams is a true family.
Authors who have been through far more loops than Songi are still entangled with their mortal family?
It’s even stranger to be fooled by such a flimsy lie.
If the initially revealed purpose is an obvious lie, then the real purpose is something else.
Why would the ancient wisdom forces want to recruit us and attack the ark?
‘You must have tried to figure me out through Ryan. I have also been observing you.’
“How was your observation?”
‘I see that your judgment is not so different from ours.’
“ah?”
‘If I had known this from the beginning, I would not have lied to you in the first place.’
Are my judgments similar to those of my ancestors?
‘You have discovered much about the Ark. In the process, you have begun to suspect that there is some kind of trap on the Ark. Am I wrong in what I am saying?’
“… doesn’t exist.”
It’s true.
I think the ark is a trap.
‘Listen carefully. The story from now on will be unfamiliar… .’
The description of the ark began.
‘The basis of the ark is a combination of a soul gathering circuit designed in ancient times and a mirror unearthed from the Iberian Peninsula. The former can gather human souls into one point to create a quasi-divine being. You will know this principle better than anyone else.’
Now I know why the wisdom of the past saw through the divine sun as soon as it was seen.
Because I knew of the ‘soul gathering circuit’ that operates on a similar principle to the sun.
‘The logic of the ark is to endure the end in that state and return everyone to human form through the power of the mirror. Do you understand this far?’
“I understand.”
Up until this point, it was information I already knew, but it’s not bad since my guesses have turned into certainty.
‘Logically, there seemed to be no problem with the ark’s logic. The visionaries who first designed the ark must have thought so too.’
“Was there actually a problem?”
‘There was. The distant ancestors of mankind, of whom not even a record remains, woke up in the next world and learned of the problem only after a long time had passed.’
To escape the coming apocalypse, he built an ark and woke up in the next world.
It was only after a long time that it was discovered that there was a fundamental problem with the ark.
‘Ahh… . The mirror, the mirror was the problem. What is a mirror in the first place? I asked the heavens countless times, but no one gave me an answer… . Young Wisdom, do you know about mirrors?’
“…”
‘You must remember that a mirror is not something that can be restored to its original state. Absolutely not.’
After listening to this, I thought:
Perhaps, we know more about mirrors than the Administration or even the wisdom of our ancestors.
Room 207 was in the distant past of reality, and mirrors were the key word.
However, due to the nature of Room 207, the way it progressed would have been very different for each party.
A mirror is not an object that can be restored to its original state.
If you’ve ever looked at yourself in a mirror, wouldn’t you know that your left and right are reversed?
A more plausible explanation is that it is also because the performer on the other side of the mirror distorts the object.
‘The first fall occurred when man took a step away from his original purity.’
From the first ark began the first fall, the first transformation.
It’s not like all common sense collapsed all at once.
The story is that all of humanity didn’t suddenly turn into cephalopods or grow tentacles instead of hands.
Common sense of the world slowly flowed away like ice melting when exposed to sunlight.
Some were so entranced by the voices of distant worlds that they summoned strange monsters.
Some people rise from the grave after death to seek revenge on their grudges from their lifetime.
Someone suddenly jumped into the sea and a fin grew on his back.
…
Only after this had happened over hundreds of years did the seers accept it.
That humanity has deviated ‘a little’ from its original purity, and that because of that, the common sense of the world has changed ‘a little’.
‘At first, no one thought it was such a big deal. Small monsters were easy to deal with. So we built the ark again.’
The first ‘little’ wasn’t a serious threat, so the ark was rebuilt.
A little became two, then three.
“Is this the umpteenth time you’ve repeated that process?”
‘Yeah. You know what the world is like now, right?’
The moon, which should have peacefully illuminated the night sky, has turned into a demon and dug into the Earth’s underground.
Today, we live in a strange world where common sense has completely collapsed.
When I heard this far, I vaguely understood what the purpose of the wisdom of the ancestors was.
‘It’s a reversal. We are paying the price of reversal…’
“…”
‘I built the ark because I was afraid of the end, because I was afraid of the sandcastle of civilization collapsing… But think again. It is natural for the ice to melt when summer comes. It is natural for the sandcastle to collapse when the waves crash.’
“…”
‘It was only natural that the sandcastle would collapse when the end came. I should have just let it collapse… I tried to forcibly maintain the sandcastle, but it ended up collapsing.’
The reason the Bureau built the Ark was to avoid having humanity return to a primitive state after the loop and have to rebuild civilization from scratch.
The wisdom of the past tells us that the very thought was counterproductive.
“So then, what is your purpose?”
‘The ark must be destroyed, the sandcastle must fall, the ice must melt…’
“…”
‘Trust me, this is truly the way to benefit humanity.’
“Do you think that destroying the ark will solve the moon problem?”
‘It won’t be solved right away. Think about environmental pollution. Will the river become clean right away if you destroy the power plant? However, after a long time, clean water will flow again.’
“…”
‘I know you may find it hard to believe me. I understand. Ask someone you can trust for the answer.’
Soon, a mysterious light began to illuminate the surrounding area in the underground space where the ceiling was blocked.
A mysterious light, believed to be a legacy of ancestral wisdom and a power that suppresses the supernatural, gathered at a single point on the stone slab.
‘Ask your colleague who rose to the top of the management bureau for an answer. Ask him if there is anything wrong with what I am saying now.’
I realized vaguely.
I was given the first path to the ending – the destruction of the ark.
However, I couldn’t tell if the ending was a happy ending or a bad ending.
*
– Lee Eun-sol
I think about what happened a little while ago.
A member of the silent ones, the opponent who showed off an ominous presence and darkened the entire hallway.
He showed up in a suit, pretending to be a human, and tried to convince us.
You are the defenders of humanity.
He is a shepherd who must protect the lambs that will awaken in the next world to escape the apocalypse.
But why do you refuse that duty and act violently?
Gain, the summoned being called by Miro, answered, “Because the ark is a trap.”
The other person asked back why he thought that way.
Gain said that the Ark was a quasi-godlike being made by gathering human souls, and that he could not believe that the Management Bureau created such a thing.
Then the opponent reached out and revealed the ark’s greatest secret – the existence of a mirror.
That the ark could be built because of the great treasures unearthed by ancient humans from beneath the Iberian Peninsula.
At that moment, when everyone was overwhelmed by the mirror’s overwhelming presence, the other person shouted in an extremely desperate tone.
“You must believe what I say!”
Gain asked back, not hiding her somewhat confused expression.
“What do you want me to believe?”
“You, the people outside, are being played into the hands of evildoers.”
“You are a wicked person -”
“Wisdom! Wisdom! I know you’ve joined hands with the evil Wisdom that you’ve obtained from the hotel. Am I wrong?”
“…speaking of the wisdom of the ancestors?”
“He will deceive you with his serpentine tongue and lead you astray, for his purpose is to destroy the ark!”
I asked back, feeling just as confused as Gain.
“So, you’re saying that your colleagues outside will be hearing the words, ‘We have to destroy the ark’?”
“Yes.”
“Are you saying we shouldn’t destroy the ark?”
“Yes.”
“… How do we know who is right?”
“Agent Lee Eun-sol, I trust your wise judgment -”
“No, don’t say things like that. You have to give me the basis for it.”
“You sly one. The true identity of the mine you call ‘the wisdom of the past’!”
“…”
“Do you know why he can’t even set foot in reality?”